For the Hillsdale College men’s basketball team, Christmas truly was the most wonderful time of the year.
After starting Christmas break with a tough three-point loss to Michigan Tech University, the Chargers reeled off an impressive eight game winning streak before falling to Ohio Dominican on Saturday, 57-55.
“We’re starting to play better defensively,” head coach John Tharp said. “Our team has really understood that the only way we’re going to be successful is defending.”
Over their eight game winning streak, the Chargers held their opponents to an average of just 60.5 points per game.
“Good defense is the best offense,” sophomore Kyle Cooper remarked. “We would get turnovers, we would hold the other team to one shot possessions, and then we would get out in transition, and get some easy buckets.”
“We’ve been playing great team defense,” senior Tim Dezelski added.
Dezelski was undoubtedly the team MVP during the winning streak, as he has won three consecutive GLIAC Men’s Basketball South Division player of the week awards.
“It’s an honor,” Dezelski said. “The best thing is that we’ve been winning games, and if we weren’t winning it wouldn’t be as cool.”
Dezelski is averaging an astonishing 24.9 points per game this season on 57.3 percent field goal shooting, in addition to 3.9 assists per game and 1.9 steals per game. It has placed him at fourth in the nation in scoring.
“He’s a great player,” Tharp said concerning Dezelski. “He demands a great deal out of himself and he demands a great deal out of his team. He does it in a lot of different ways. He scores, he rebounds… we feel really fortunate that he’s in a Hillsdale College uniform.”
“[Tim Dezelski] continues to find ways to improve,” Cooper said. “He does it in every facet of the game. He hits his shots, and they’re good shots, he involves his teammates when we have shots and he rebounds the ball… I hope he can keep doing it and do better.”
Another factor that contributed to the Chargers’ success was the extra time without schoolwork that Christmas break brought to the players.
“It is a chance for our guys to focus strictly on basketball, to have a few extra practices,” Tharp said. “We have such a close basketball team that it’s just a nice opportunity to be together, doing a lot of different things as a team, and making improvements.”
The Chargers’ winning streak was highlighted by two impressive road victories against Grand Valley State University and Ferris State University. The Chargers beat Grand Valley by a close margin of 68-66, and followed up their performance with a 72-59 win against Ferris.
“I thought that was really a weekend that our guys showed a tremendous amount of toughness and discipline,” Tharp said about the two victories.
“Those are two tough places to play, and we gave both those teams their first loss in the league, so that was a real turning point for us, and we got some confidence after that,” Dezelski added.
The Chargers now have an overall record of 10-4 (6-4 in the GLIAC), and are third place in the South Division, sitting only a game behind Walsh and Findlay.
The Chargers will look for their ninth win in their last ten contests tonight against Lake Erie College at 8 p.m. in Jesse Phillips Arena.
